A Duo of Delightfully Dramatic Comedies

A Duo of Delightfully Dramatic Comedies - theHumm November 2016

By — C.Lee Bates

Who can resist a guaranteed formula for enjoyment? Consider the following equation: eleven of the finest actors in Eastern Ontario (well, certainly in Lanark County!) + two highly regarded artistic directors + multiple talented designers and technicians + one charming theatre venue, divided by two quirky, humorous, thought-provoking short plays = An Evening of One-Act Plays at Perth’s Studio Theatre! How can you miss?

The Real Inspector Hound, by award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard, initially appears to be a corny country-house mystery, a cliché-ridden whodunit, parodying its own genre. However, the separate existence of two pompous theatre critics, Moon and Birdboot — more concerned with their own issues than the play — provokes the audience to realize they are watching a play-within-a-play in which the critics’ cliché-ridden commentary parodies its genre! Throughout the course of the play, the two narratives become entangled as characters seamlessly switch roles. Soon the two stories are nearly impossible to separate.

Veteran director David Parry makes no attempt to conceal his glee with the cast he secured for “Hound”. “It’s a director’s dream cast,” says Parry. David Bird and Jamie Schoular pair up as theatre critics Moon and Birdboot, whose running, but often absurdly unrelated, conversation intersperses with the murder mystery they are reviewing. An OPP officer “by day”, Perth theatre scene stalwart Bird says he loves working with such a strong cast and looks forward to lifting the spirits of the audience with laughter. Asked about acting and policing, Bird is philosophical: “You play a role in both.”

Hound gets more and more interesting as the critics’ characters reveal themselves and then are propelled, one by one, into the action of the play they are attending. Like a living domino effect, most of the characters eventually fall into new roles in this clever and hilarious satiric parody. The aptly-named Mrs. Drudge, played by the versatile Jenny Pfitzer, brings humour as a stage-direction-calling Cockney maid who, at times, both acts and directs. Rounding out the cast with strong individual acting and comedic skills are Chris Angel, Kristy Tait Angel, Robert DelGrande, Grey Masson and Krista Duff.

In Coffee House, by Leon Kaye, Amy and Dag meet at a coffee house. They joke, flirt and seem perfectly suited for one another. Then, time stops and everyone is frozen — all except Dag and an odd man, Hugh, who has arrived claiming he’s been sent to save Dag from making a terrible, life-altering mistake. Hugh informs Dag that he has a perfect soulmate with whom he has spent many fulfilling lifetimes, only it isn’t Amy. Surprises and reversals abound in this mind-bending fantasy about coffee and the rest of one’s life.

Lucas Tennant, Director of Coffee House, is also delighted with his cast, a trio of fine actors who are no strangers to the Studio Theatre stage. Julie Heney plays Amy, the initially reluctant object of Dag’s (Hugh McCulloch) attentions as she sits idly at the coffee bar. Gradually Amy’s icy resolve succumbs to Dag’s charms and, just when it looks like he might win her over, in comes Hugh, played by Charles Henderson. This is when the play becomes surreal as Hugh suspends time for everyone in the coffee house except Dag and himself, revealing information to Dag that he hopes will alter the immediate course of events for reasons that may — or may not — become apparent. The audience must come to its own conclusions; a characteristic of the play that Tennant especially enjoys. “Keep them guessing, and wondering and thinking about it,” he says. “Just who the protagonist is isn’t entirely clear. And is there a ‘bad guy’? Come see for yourself!”

Packed into a mere thirty minutes, a perfectly ordinary scenario unexpectedly transforms into a bizarre, humorous and thought-provoking tale that also defies predictability. Tennant acknowledges that he is drawn to plays that broach “questions about destiny and choice.”

An Evening of One-Act Plays premières at the Studio Theatre on Thursday, November 3, with performances on November 3, 4 and 5 at 7:30pm, and a 2pm matinée on the 6th. Tickets are $22 at the Book Nook (60 Gore St. E, cash only), and $22 plus convenience fee at Shadowfax (67 Foster St., 267–6817, shadowfax.on.ca) and Tickets Please (in the Matheson House Museum Visitor Centre, 11 Gore St. E., 485–6434, ticketsplease.ca), both of which accept in-store, phone, online and credit card purchases. Tickets are $24 at the door, and $10 at the door for students with ID. Attend opening night and save $5!

The weekend following An Evening of One-Act Plays, The Real Inspector Hound and Coffee House will be the Studio Theatre’s entries in the annual Eastern Ontario Drama League’s One-Act Play Festival, which the Studio Theatre will proudly host the weekend of November 11 to 13. This prestigious festival brings together eight community theatre groups from across Eastern Ontario to perform their best one-acts, plays between 25 minutes and one hour in length. Performances will be judged by a professional adjudicator, who will announce awards for acting, direction, costume design and more at the Awards Brunch on Sunday, November 13. Don’t miss your chance to see great community theatre in action! Tickets for the EODL One-Act Play Festival are available now; you can see each set of three plays for $20, or immerse yourself in the Festival by seeing all nine plays plus attending the Awards Brunch for just $90 (Brunch alone is $30). Visit studiotheatreperth.com for details or call 326–0437.

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A Duo of Delightfully Dramatic Comedies - theHumm November 2016